


starving college students

by Tupipsie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Drabble, Mark Lee / Lee Taeyong brothers, Other, Platonic lumark, Qian Kun / Wong Yukhei brothers, Random & Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tupipsie/pseuds/Tupipsie
Summary: Yukhei and Mark, who are extremely broke college students living off of practically nothing and crammed into a tiny apartment together, cannot cook to save their lives. So when Yukhei eats the last bowl of cereal, it all goes downhill from there.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	starving college students

A drum set sat positioned in the middle of the room, begging to be touched and used. There were drumsticks laying on the center drum, yet there was already a faint banging emanating from the instrument. Nothing seemed to be moving at all, almost like someone had taken a picture of it and left it there. It was quite odd. The banging got louder and louder, and a voice accompanied it, screaming.

With a jolt, Yukhei woke up to his name being yelled from the other side of his bedroom door. “Yukhei I’m going to _kick your ass!_ ” The voice berated and scolded for a reason unbeknownst to him. Realizing it was his roommate, Mark, Yukhei’s mood seemed to damper a bit. What a wonderful thing to wake up to. Dragging himself out of bed, his door locked out of habit, the banging persisted. Unlocking the door with a hesitant hand, it flew open in a rage as the tiny Mark Lee came barreling in, yelling profanities and cursing out Yukhei like he’d heard only a handful of times previously. It only meant one thing; “You ate the rest of the cereal you gargantuan, bigfoot asshat!” Yukhei sniggered at the bigfoot comment, only to receive a hearty glare and following slap from the other male. As much as the taller would’ve loved to indulge in a few more minutes, possibly hours, of sleep, not having any cereal in the house proved a very challenging obstacle. Yukhei cursed.

“Shit.”

“Shit indeed! What are we supposed to eat now? You know I can’t cook eggs and I finished the last banana yesterday, so that’s out the window.” Mark huffed, pouting as he thought of a solution that would no doubt involve one of the two’s older siblings. If only God could’ve evenly split the adulting genes equally amongst the respective brothers, it would’ve made life a lot easier for all four of them. 

Mark’s stomach growled, meaning in the next five minutes, if they didn’t find a solution, Taeyong would be contacted and they would be scolded endlessly. But at least they’d get a meal out of it. The two boys trudged to the kitchen, spirits lowered significantly at the sight of the empty Reece’s Puffs cereal box, as well as the beloved cocoa pebbles box that had been discarded just the day prior.

“We are the worst adults ever,” Yukhei sighed heavily before being punched in the arm by Mark who was still quite angry about his favorite cereal being devoured by a man who swore he enjoyed Frosted Flakes better. 

Peeking in the fridge, it was what you would expect from two very broke college students living on a budget. Kimchi that Mark’s mom sent, leftover pasta from whenever ago, the usual condiments, lots of individually wrapped cheeses, a bag of baby carrots that were seldom touched, and beers they stole from a party neither of them remember very well. 

They had a small carton of eggs that was only touched when one of them made ramen, and there was cheap beef in one of the drawers. Both of them stared at each other and then their phones. They both were living off of a sliver of pride each, the last remaining bits that were intact from previous experiences with their older brothers. 

Luckily this was their last year of college, and if they found girlfriends who would cook for them, it would make graduation that much sweeter. Yukhei gaped at his own kitchen. “We don’t even have any rice! How do we not have _rice_? Mark, we’re _fully Asian_ and we don’t have rice. We’re gonna die. Kun’s gonna kill me. My _mom’s_ gonna kill me.” Yukhei complained regretfully, searching for their apparently lost rice cooker and bag of rice. Mark just sighed.

“It has to happen,” Mark says in a voice that Yukhei really didn’t like. It was a mix between disappointment, fury, and fear for his own well-being. He hit the call button, waitingfor the line to ring. 

The phone line clicked, and before Taeyong could say anything, Mark jumped on it first. “Hey Yongie! This is totally, one hundred and ten percent, not my fault. Yukehi ate the rest of the cereal and now I’m left with nothing, absolutely nothing, to eat. Can you please come cook for us?” Mark’s words spilled out of his mouth faster than Eminem could rap, fear pulsing through his veins. His older brother wasn’t scary, per se, but he definitely knew how to make Mark feel like he did a major oopsie. Yukhei watched as the smaller male shook his head at some points in the conversation, uttering out a no, while in other parts he nodded with a ‘yes’. 

Suddenly, he cried out, “Taeyong!” Mark whined. “I make, like, zero dollars a month, dude. That’s nothing. Do you know how much fruit costs? Well it’s expensive! No, Yukhei’s not going to pay for it, he makes just as much as I do. No, I really don’t know how we pay rent. Well if you’re not going to help me eat food and survive like a normal human and not accidentally poison myself with my horrendous cooking skills, Yukhei will call Kun. Yeah, you can still come over. Bye.” 

Huffing angrily, Mark found refuge in the linoleum floors of their kitchen. Yukhei felt just as defeated. He stared at Kun’s contact information for a very long time before actually pressing the call button.

Yukhei wasn’t as lucky as Mark was when it came to speaking first.

Kun knew exactly what Yukhei wanted, and there was a steady stream of angry Mandarin that flowed from both the phone and Yukhei’s mouth as Mark strained to understand what they were saying to each other. The two Chinese brothers didn’t like using Korean when it was just them, since their mother tongue was much more comfortable to argue in. 

It quickly switched to Cantonese and then Mandarin again and Mark’s head began to hurt. He just wanted to eat some food! Should they just go to a café? No, they definitely didn’t have enough money for that. There was a sharp burst of words that came from Yukhei’s mouth before he hung up and slammed his phone down. 

Turning from the counter to Mark, a smile suddenly burst on his face and it felt like the air had become significantly less depressing. It was a complete one-eighty that made the shorter male’s head spin on its axis.

“What the hell was that?”

“Kun agreed.” Was all Yukhei said before practically skipping to his room for what Mark assumed was to get changed. He decided to do the same, before Kun and most likely Taeyong showed up to scold them. Might was well look presentable to get hit on the head with a piece of rolled up paper.

The doorbell rang almost ten minutes later, and the once cleared air once again filled with tension, mostly from Mark. Once again, the two college students made brief eye contact with each other before scrambling to the door and opening it in a rush. 

The sight that stood before them was not a pretty one. Kun’s hair was a mess, and his black sweatshirt and gray sweatpants mixed with his tennis shoes showed how much he had to drag himself to be at his younger brother’s apartment. 

Next to him stood a much more put together yet equally disheveled Taeyong, who most likely pulled an all-nighter at the recording studio. His loose button up was clearly wrinkled from being bent over for hours, and his cotton slacks looked somewhat dull in the morning sun. 

Both of them, however, looked very _done_. They shoved their way past their rightful younger brother and into the kitchen where they began preparing a meal. The two bickered over each other, complaining about the rather dumbfounded twenty year old’s whom they called their younger siblings.

In no time, an omelet filled with more vegetables and protein than the two college students had most likely had all month were being shoved in front of their faces harshly.

Kun and Taeyong stood in the kitchen where they could be face to face with Yukhei and Mark as they sat on the kitchen island. 

The two of them silently and hesitantly ate their meal, suspicious as to whether or not it had been poisoned. Kun and Taeyong had an eerie smile on their faces that didn’t leave until the younger’s plates were cleaned. 

Once they were, the paper plates were swiftly discarded of. Packing everything up in lightning speed, the two elders walked to the front door, still fully visible to the two other occupants of the apartment.

“If you call us again, I will smash your PlayStation to bits,” Kun directed his controlled, bone chilling anger towards his younger brother. “and make you eat the remnants.” With that, he opened the door, Taeyong following suit, as they slam the door shut behind them.

For what feels like the umpteenth time today, the two boys who were just left dumbfounded, stared at each other with looks of pure bewilderment in their eyes before looking away and going about their day looking behind their shoulders.

**Author's Note:**

> this was super random but i hope you liked it hehe


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